The New Neighbor

Chapter 7: Love and Attention

 Chapter 7: Love and Attention

The garage door was fully closed when the girls walked over. The guys had been leaving it partially open at the bottom since the weather turned colder. Unless it was really cold, the girls could usually duck under it. At the very least, they could pull it up for a moment to go in. It was locked tonight, so they had to ring the doorbell. Jax answered the door in a suit. Mellie was shocked. He smiled at them and held the door wide as he said, "Good evening, ladies. Please come in."

Mellie felt underdressed and wondered who sent the memo on the dress code and why she hadn't been included. Rebecca went first, followed by Marissa, Mellie bringing up the rear. Jax closed the door and asked, "May I take your coats?"

The girls nodded and took their coats off. As Jax was hanging them on a coat rack, the doorbell rang again. Jax answered it and said, "Hello, Claire. Please come in."

A very pretty girl, whose blonde hair had several blue streaks in it, walked in wearing jeans. Mellie instantly felt better. Claire said, "Hi, Jax. Thanks."

"May I take your coat, Claire?" asked Jax.

Claire nodded and took her coat off saying, "Thanks."

Jax finished hanging up the coats and introduced the girls to each other. Everything was very friendly. He led the girls to the hallway leading to the garage, where the door stood open, and said, "Go on through, ladies." He slipped his arm around Mellie's waist and held her back. She looked at him curiously, but he waited until the other girls had gone through the door.

Mellie gasped softly as Jax suddenly pressed her lightly against the wall. He smiled at her and whispered, "I'm going to kiss you for the first time tonight, Mellie. I just wanted you to know and be thinking about it because I will." He leaned his head down closer to hers, and she thought he was going to kiss her then. He did, but he kissed her cheek softly. Her expression turned confused, and he chuckled before adding, "That wasn't it. Real one comes later." With that, he led her into the garage.

The furniture in the garage had been moved around. A table and chairs sat in the middle of the room. Candles were placed in a line along the center with a few long stem red roses. The only other light came from white Christmas lights strung around the room. All this gave the garage a romantic glow. More heart shaped balloons in red, pink, and silver were scattered around the room connected to weights on the floor with strings of varying lengths. All the guys were wearing suits complete with ties. Mellie marveled at the lengths the guys had gone to and realized this was what they had been planning all week.

Keyon was trying to cuddle up to Claire, but she pushed him away and complained, "Keyon! How come you didn't tell me this was formal?"

Keyon grinned and said, "You're fine, baby, and I mean fiiine. Look, Mellie is wearing jeans too."

Claire looked over at Mellie.

Mellie said, "Yeah, I didn't get the memo either."

Jax put his arm around Mellie, smiled at her, and said, "You look beautiful, Mellie."

Mellie smiled at Jax but looked over at Rebecca and Marissa. She asked, "How did you two know it was formal?"

Rebecca said, "We didn't."

Marissa added, "I think we both just decided to wear these dresses and didn't care if we were overdressed." Rebecca nodded, and they both smiled.

Mellie said, "Oh."

Jax lifted his hand and moved his fingertips lightly over the embroidery on Mellie's upper chest. "This is a very pretty shirt anyway, Mellie." His touch made her draw in her breath, and her chest rose, pressing back against his fingers. He smiled at her knowingly, and she blushed with a mumbled, "Thanks."